We are new investors in the residential real estate market of the Twin Cities metro area. Since we are currently remote, we took special care in selecting a real estate agent and a property manager. We were fortunate to meet Lisa Atkinson of Investors Realty MN (also operating as Total Real Estate Success). Even when we were just interviewing potential agents, Lisa took extra time to make sure she understand our goals, and to explain the pros and cons of investing in different types of residential property and different parts of the metro area unfamiliar to us. Before we engaged her as our agent, she even took us on a virtual tour without obligation or pressure, just because we were interested in the property. As part of this process, we also talked with two of Lisa’s client references, and they both spoke positively about working with her and TRES on different parts of buying, selling, and managing properties. Once we engaged Lisa as our agent, she helped us solidify our target, and we started looking at properties. At that time, we learned that Lisa’s knowledge and experience as a real estate agent, property manager, and licensed contractor, along with her sincere desire to help her clients succeed, really made her stand out. Lisa provided data and analyses to help us identify potential properties, and ran her tours timely and effectively. Even though our tours were virtual, Lisa’s thoroughness enabled us to review the properties almost as well as if we were there in person. When we got to the offer stage, Lisa made sure we understood the terms of the purchase agreement, ran models and market comparisons to help us price, and was outstanding on communications and always kept us informed. Where needed, Lisa also provided contacts from her network for loan agents, inspectors, contractors, and the like. We also appreciated that Lisa never pressured us or did a sales pitch – she just gave us her honest advice. Thus, less than 5 months after we started not knowing what or where to invest in the Twin Cities, we have executed on our goal by closing on our first property. Thanks, Lisa and TRES! We were so happy with our experience that we have also hired Lisa and TRES to be our property manager. This part is pretty new yet to us, but the transition has been smooth and all looks great thus far. Unsurprisingly, we are finding that Lisa the property manager is the same diligent, responsible, and careful person as Lisa the real estate agent. We have met Maureen and Pat at TRES, but haven’t worked much with them. We do appreciate how they collaborate with each other on the back-end, and how they cover each other, including when Lisa was out one week during an offer process for us. – Wendy
California Investors
March 30, 2022